Practical difficulties in placing economics students and designing instructional materials in English as a Second Language at the University of Antwerp (Belgium), and techniques used for resolving these difficulties, are described. First-year students arrive with heterogeneous backgrounds because, unlike in other European countries, there is no state secondary school-leaving examination. The first hurdle, therefore, is proper placement in homogeneous groupings, according to experience and abilities. To address the needs of the least proficient group, the school has compiled reading texts and exercises that students complete at their own pace with instructional assistance. Each unit is based on a reading and contains a vocabulary, common errors, grammar, language practice, and comprehension section, the order and length varying according to the reading. Students are expected to look up vocabulary definitions. The common errors section focuses on false cognates and deceptively similar sentence patterns. In the grammar section, the students' attention is drawn to points of grammar in the context of the reading. The language practice section tests assimilation and application of grammar rules, and in the comprehension section, students must express their personal views on a particular issue in a 10-line passage. (MSE)